Are A Midsummer Night’s Dream themed cocktail parties the
most inebriating of Shakespearean spin-off traditions?
By: Ringo Bones
Although I’ve never been invited into one, or lucky enough
to have wandered into one, back in the 1990s, it is said that Midsummer Night’s
Dream themed cocktail parties are usually celebrated whenever there’s a bar
that’s within a comfortable walking distance of a campus with students old
enough to drink. Usually held near the end of June in the northern hemisphere,
the festivities are largely inspired by William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s
Dream – the great bard’s work of comedy where four young lovers find themselves
in an enchanted forest full of fairies, magic and mischief. It is not just the
bar that is decorated to resemble the stage of A Midsummer Night’s Dream – the participants
are also encouraged to dress like the characters of the play and – most important
of all – the cocktail drinks that are served are all inspired by the setting
and the characters of the comedy. More often than not – some are even
inebriated enough to give an impromptu Shakespearean performance of epic
proportions.
I was invited into one back in June 2001 by our local Shakespearean
acting troupe, but to my then ignorance of such events, mistaken it for just an
after performance party of their own production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer
Night’s Dream. Though this wasn’t as elaborate to the one that they’ve posted
on Facebook back in 2007 when they did A Midsummer Night’s Dream themed cocktail
party in a bar somewhere in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Sadly, in the age of the COVID 19 pandemic, it seems that
all A Midsummer Night’s Dream themed cocktail parties in 2020 will be held with
social distancing in mind. But, still, maybe Shakespeare will agree that this
is a great tradition that needs to be preserved.
